Antisemitismus v české kultuře druhé republiky

• Authors: Jaroslav Med

Title variants

EN

Antisemitism in the Culture of the Second Czechoslovak Republic Contemporary History

• Languages of publication: CS

Abstracts

EN

The article describes the rise of antisemitism in Czech culture and society in Second Czechoslovak Republic, the period from October 1938 to mid-March 1939. The author argues that antisemitism in the Czech milieu stemmed not from racial roots but from national and social roots connected with the emancipation of the Czech nation in the mid-nineteenth century. In the spiritual and psychological climate of the First Republic antisemitism was more or less latent, but the situation changed fundamentally after the Munich Agreement. After the signing of the agreement and the accession of the border areas to Germany, in connection with the psychological shock and change of the political regime in the country, the Jews were suddenly faced with open attacks and ostracism in the press, professional associations, political organizations, cultural institutions, and from a number of eminent people. The Jews were most often reproached for being a foreign element in the Czech milieu and for being disproportionately represented in prestigious occupations and public life. The author considers Roman Catholic journalism in greater detail, where such attitudes were frequently expressed, and he considers the ambivalent attitude towards the Jews in the works of the writers Jaroslav Durych (1886–1962) and Jakub Deml (1878–1961). He points to the infl uence that Léon Bloy (1846–1917) and his Le Salut par les Juifs (1892; Czech translation, 1911) had on Czech Roman Catholic intellectuals in this inconsistent view of Jewry, which is much more anti-Judaist than antisemitic.

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Institute of Contemporary History, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Soudobé dějiny (Contemporary History)
• Year: 2008
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 9-21

Contributors

author

Jaroslav Med

• Soudobé dějiny, redakce, Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR, v.v.i., Vlašská 9, 118 40 Praha 1, Czech Republic